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Sep 18, 2024: The Civilian reports that the government directs Te Puni Kokiri to conduct Māori Language Week in English. Satire: Keeping in line with the government’s policy to favour English in official communications, Māori Language Week will be in English this year. …
Sep 18, 2024: Morena world. Despite the overnight weather forecast that wasn’t too good—although it’s a clear and sunny day now—our house is running at 85% …
Sep 17, 2024: RSS feeds vs daily emails I’ve gone back to the tried and true Akregator for aggregating RSS feeds of blogs and news sites I want to follow without having to look at them …
Sep 17, 2024:
Carers NZ needs your help! Please sign this survey!
We all need to help Carers NZ understand the picture of what is happening around funding changes in health and disability. Things are changing for all …
Sep 17, 2024: How many bags? After teasing me for years about how many bags and satchels I own, my wife has decided my old black messenger bag is her new favourite. I agree it’s a …
Sep 17, 2024: I’ve only just realised the little emojis we use to filter images in the Discover section of micro.blog are from the emoji selection built into the …
Sep 17, 2024: I think she’s trying to convince us she comfortable there. I’m not buying it. 🐕 Caption: A man is lying on a couch with a small dog resting against …
Sep 17, 2024: New iPhone iOS installation I see a lot of people worried about updating their iPhones to the latest iOS version. Fortunately, my phone is an iPhone8+ and is up to date with …
Sep 17, 2024:
Do I worry unnecessarily about catching bugs?
CW: Medical talk.
Sep 17, 2024:
Together Tuesday drop in morning teas
I’ve just been down at the last Together Tuesday for the Pop-up Parlour at a local church hall. They’ve been a great opportunity to catch …
Sep 17, 2024:
Locking more people in prison doesn’t make society safer
I’ve just been listening to the PM talking on Morning Report about putting more people in prison as though it’s the solution to crime and recidivism.
Sep 16, 2024:
Who's responsible for solving the USA's toxic political culture and racism?
I’ve thought long and hard about posting this, and it will probably get me into trouble or come across as a ‘stop picking on us’ winge. Despite …
Sep 16, 2024:
Getting paid for surplus solar power
An electrician has just been in to replace our standard power meter with an import/export one that records how much solar power we are sending out …
Sep 16, 2024:
Good to have a local hospital
I’m currently sitting in the outpatient ward at Kenepuru Community Hospital—my common haunt—waiting for a blood test. The place is filling up quickly …
Sep 16, 2024: Morena world. Ours is cold rain today, so I hope yours is a more pleasant one.
Sep 15, 2024:
Autogenerated image captions in micro.blog
A couple of weeks ago I posted about how micro.blog lets you use the FIGURE and FIGCAPTION tags as well as the IMG tags for images Figure and …
Sep 15, 2024:
Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori avatar
If you’re wondering what my new avatar on social media is, it’s the one for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori or Māori Language Week.
Sep 15, 2024:
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band (SAHB)
🎵I’ve been listening to several Sensational Alex Harvey Band albums over the past few days and now I can truthfully say I understand what all …
Sep 15, 2024:
Self-sufficient solar power production
It’s a very sunny day in Pukerua Bay and the solar panels are pumping out the power. Not quite full production but enough to power our whole house.
Sep 15, 2024:
Things they don't tell about cancer
CW: Medical talk.
One thing my doctors didn’t tell me when I was diagnosed with myeloma 13 years ago is that you can literally shink.
Sep 15, 2024:
Encryption of micro.blog notes
I had a problem yesterday with the encryption of Notes between the micro.blog web interface and the Strata app, so I thought I would make a post to …
Sep 14, 2024: Good morning, world.
Sep 13, 2024: All politics about royalty and class aside, this looks like a genuine moment of human warmth. The world needs more of them. Black Ferns wing and King …
Sep 13, 2024: Kids on OE in the UK doing well Our son and daughter-in-law are now back in England after their month-long bus tour through the Continent and are settling into their new flat. The …
Sep 13, 2024:
Private social media groups ideal for specialist interests
CW: Cancer talk. I’m not a big fan of Facebook – in fact, you couldn’t even call me a small fan – but I am part of the private …
Sep 13, 2024: My poor wife has lost her voice. She’s had a cough for a couple of days — probably hay fever — as I haven’t caught anything from her. Last night she …
Sep 13, 2024: Yuk. The rain is coming in sideways at the moment. Definitely a day to stay home unless it’s an emergency.
Sep 12, 2024:
Great service from Awanui
I have to give a shout-out to Awanui Laboratories collection staff in Porirua for their service today.
Sep 12, 2024: 🐕Somebody’s comfortable.
Sep 12, 2024: Māori queen Nga Wai Hono i te po Paki crowned in ‘new dawn’ for New Zealand This will be interesting. Her father had taken a more prominent role in politics since the election of a conservative government last year. She is …
Sep 12, 2024: One disadvantage of not being able to get around so easily these days is missing the ninth-anniversary drinks of the informal DIA Communication Team …
Sep 10, 2024: What is hip? 🎵What is hip? Tower of Power, that’s what. Tower Of Power - What Is Hip? (Chicago 1977)
Sep 10, 2024: Bookmarks - to use or not to use? I’m experimenting with the full bookmarks function in micro.blog. I haven’t spent enough time yet to know if I will use it enough to justify the extra …
Sep 10, 2024:
No emergency alarms at medical ward today
CW: medical treatment.
Sep 8, 2024:
Busy weekend - soccer club breakup and community 'placemaking' under threat in Porirua
⚽️It’s been a busy weekend. Yesterday, we had the local soccer club’s end-of-season breakup. For the first time in many years I …
Sep 6, 2024: As I’ve been fixing my breakfast I’ve been listening to the children next door practice their Kapa Haka skills. The 10-year old showed me her poi …
Sep 5, 2024: The family is all excited today. The father-in-law is getting his gong from the Governor General this afternoon. He (Anthony Dreaver) was made a …
Sep 3, 2024: Company on a wet day 🐕You’re never alone when you’ve got a dog ready to snuggle in. Winnie likes to get in close especially when there is a woollen rug to lie on.
Sep 3, 2024: Is it too soon to say we probably won’t have a spring drought? Rain, rain and more rain.
Sep 3, 2024: Great news from our children travelling in Europe. Our daughter-in-law (the journalist) has just picked up a 3-month contract at CNN, based in London. …
Sep 1, 2024: Happy birthday to our youngest child. He and his wife are currently on a bus tour through part of Europe with a bunch of Aussies. They seem to be …
Aug 31, 2024: Crash, bang, flash. The thunder and lightning has arrived.
Aug 31, 2024:
A new pain?
I woke up early two days ago with a very sore shoulder. A newish pain. What could that be? (CW: medical talk)
Aug 30, 2024: Want to read: The Magician by Colm Toibin 📚 My mother-in-law lent this to me a few weeks ago, and it has joined a small pile of ‘one day …
Aug 29, 2024: My father’s bible given to him by the Kelso Presbyterian Church after he enlisted in the Army in World War 2, and went into basic training. The …
Aug 29, 2024: Regarding the news from Auckland today about the City Council considering when stores can sell alcohol. I reckon anyone who wants to buy alcohol at …
Aug 29, 2024: A new notebook I’ve just created a new section in my bullet journal for September. It’s the last one I have any room for in the notebook. Given my …
Aug 29, 2024: Community newsletter for Pukerua Bay If you’re interested in what we’re doing in our little community, check out our two-monthly community newsletter (edited by my clever …
Aug 29, 2024:
Figure and figcaption element for images in micro.blog
I’ve been experimenting with the element and attribute for images in …<figure>
<figcaption>
</figcaption>
</figure>
Aug 29, 2024: Your immune system is not a muscle A fascinating description of the incredible complexity of our immune system. Not too technical for a non-clinical person to understand. Rachel Thomas, …
Aug 29, 2024: The weather’s really crapped out in the past half hour. Wind’s up, rain’s back. We’ll have to console ourselves with the memory of yesterday’s perfect …
Aug 28, 2024: Visit to Wellington Botanical Gardens It was such a beautiful day, that my wife, mother-in-law and I decided to go to the Wellington Botanical Gardens. It was the first time I had been …
Aug 28, 2024: Birds in the garden It’s nice going out into the garden in the morning to fetch the paper and hear the tūī going for it in the trees. We have a growing number of …
Aug 27, 2024: Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey 🎵This was the first Burning Spear album I bought. It’s also very devout and hard-core Rastafarian. Also very political, given it’s a …
Aug 27, 2024: Useful algorithms I don’t generally like online algorithms that decide for you what you want to see (Facebook and Twitter, I’m looking at you). But I find the radio one …
Aug 27, 2024:
White English rock band hints at reformation; critics in a lather
🎵Or are they? The band, I mean, not the critics; they’re wetting themselves with excitement about the possibility.
Aug 27, 2024: Open letter to the oil industry Greenpeace has launched an open letter to the oil industry telling them they are not welcome in New Zealand. It’s pretty blunt and leaves them …
Aug 27, 2024:
Too many SM accounts?
Questions I’ve been thinking about recently inspired by joining micro.blog.
Aug 27, 2024: Finding treasures when tidying We’ve been cleaning out a space upstairs in the next-door house, where our daughter lives. It was tidy at one time, but when we moved out we …
Aug 27, 2024: The rain is back! Just in time for Kate to go out to do some messages and go to the beauty parlour.
Aug 27, 2024: No scavengers in the house We do love our dog, but sometimes it is nice to not have her hanging around scavenging when you are eating lunch. She’s currently next door keeping …
Aug 27, 2024: Very sad and disappointing. Upper Hutt City Council cuts down a stand of beech trees to widen a road into a new housing development. Beech trees cut …
Aug 27, 2024: Another gloomy day here in Pukerua Bay, although the rain seems to have eased off. I think there is more forecast for later in the day. Remarkably, we …
Aug 27, 2024:
More medical adventures (not me this time)
Our daughter had to spend last night in ED.
Aug 26, 2024: No solar power today As expected today, with heavy cloud cover and rain, our solar power production and self-sufficiency is a big fat zero!
Aug 26, 2024: Rain, rain and more rain We were talking to our dinner guest friends last night about how dry it has still been this winter. No longer. Rain started about 10pm last night and …
Aug 25, 2024:
Accessibility on devices for poor eyesight
About 10 days ago I blogged on my new-found appreciation for the accessibility settings in various devices to help me read on screen when my eyesight …
Aug 25, 2024: Tory Whanau puts the PM straight Wellington mayor Tory Whanau has got stuck into the PM for his misguided speech to the Local Government Association this week. As well as justifyingly …
Aug 25, 2024: Kate has just come back from a swim at the beach with her friend. She reports that it was “terrible” and she got knocked over several times. It’s …
Aug 25, 2024: Daffodils looking lovely These lovely flowers are distributing a beautiful scent throughout the upstairs of our house. All from our own garden.
Aug 25, 2024: Interdenominational religion in action I think our little intersection corner of Pukerua Bay must be the most religious in town. By 10am our neighbour had gone off to the spiritualist …
Aug 25, 2024: Gratitude Lying in bed thinking of some of the things I can be grateful for: I have a wonderful wife who loves me and looks after me 💕💚 Old friends and family …
Aug 23, 2024: Yuk. A good night to stay home.
Aug 23, 2024: Thank heavens for morphine. (That’s all I have to say.)
Aug 23, 2024: What you need to know Am I the only person who is irritated by the statement “What you need to know” in online stories? Where has this phrase come from? Has it been …
Aug 23, 2024: Solar power obsession Trying — and failing — to not be obsessed about how much electricity we are producing off our roof solar panels, how self-sufficient we are, and how …
Aug 22, 2024:
PM shows he doesn't understand local government
The PM Christopher Luxon got the reception he deserved when he spoke to the Local Government Association conference yesterday. He (or who ever wrote …
Aug 22, 2024: Kate’s off on her second run in as many days, after a very long time not doing much exercise. Very proud of her getting back into it. She enjoys it …
Aug 21, 2024: I’ve just been listening to a couple of old Jeff Beck albums, ‘Blow By Blow’ and ‘Wired’. I’d forgotten how jazz …
Aug 20, 2024:
Max Romeo - War Ina Babylon
What’s on the turntable at the moment? Max Romeo’s ‘War Ina Babylon’. It’s from 1976 when much of his music was still …
Aug 20, 2024:
Another day in the hospital day ward
Another day in the Kenepuru day ward for a blood top up. Keeps me out of mischief, I suppose. CW: Adverse reaction to medicine
Aug 20, 2024: Solar update with operational system - day 1 Solar update with operational system. Yesterday, we had clear, sunny skies with good solar production for a brief period. That is, until a hail storm …
Aug 19, 2024: So much for a bright sunny day producing all the power we need. Now we have a hail storm!
Aug 19, 2024: Solar power update Good news. The electrical inspector has just been around, tested the new solar system, turned it on and pronounced it safe to use. We are now running …
Aug 18, 2024:
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Dread Beat an’ Blood was one of the first reggae records I bought. I’m sure I bought it the year it came out (1978).
Aug 18, 2024: 🐕The dog has now returned from a walk with Kate and has assumed another of her favourite positions; tucked in behind my knees.
Aug 18, 2024: 🐕The dog emerged from her bed, barking at an unknown sound, only to quickly make herself comfortable in another of her favourite spots; my legs!
Aug 18, 2024:
Today’s drugs
CW: cancer and drugs
Aug 18, 2024: A misty moisty morning. This is the view out our upstairs windows this morning. Somewhere out there is the Tasman Sea and Kāpiti Island.
Aug 18, 2024: I had my first experience of Southland cheese rolls with dinner last night. I can’t say I’m an instant fan. The tomato soup was on another level, …
Aug 17, 2024:
Pop-up parlour in our village
What becomes possible when we open up a space for community, where locals can connect, collaborate, share
and meet?
Aug 16, 2024: Porn movie character name A former boss was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few months ago and had surgery early this year. On a couple of occasions he has mentioned that one …
Aug 15, 2024:
Blurred vision giving me a new appreciation of web accessibility
One of the side effects of the rather large doses of steroids I’m on for my myeloma is that they can affect my vision. I often find my sight …
Aug 15, 2024: We’ve just heard from our power company that it will be another month before they can install a new import/export meter in our switchboard so we …
Aug 15, 2024: With the end of winter there is more activity in the garden. It’s starting to look much nicer with our magnolias coming into flower. There are still a …
Aug 14, 2024: Winnie in the garden 🐕Our dog on her early morning toilet visit to the garden. She loves to explore the space around the house. She is called ‘Winnie’ after my wife’s …
Aug 13, 2024:
New cancer treatment underway already
CW: Cancer treatment.
Aug 12, 2024: The heavy rain we have been expecting has just arrived. Fortunately, the solar panel installers finished getting the final one up just in time!
Aug 12, 2024:
Hope can be a dangerous thing when it comes to our health
When you’re face-to-face with serious illness or death, hope in an unattainable cure or treatment can be very emotionally damaging. I mentioned …
Jul 30, 2024: Kids off to Singapore Travel update: son and daughter-in-law have left Noosa and are on the plane to Singapore, en route to UK. We are expecting to see lots of photos of …
Jul 29, 2024: Keeping the health system busy Our family is persisting in making sure the health system is keeping busy. I had to get one of my regular blood tests today, and when we got home, we …
Jul 28, 2024:
Choosing who you want in your family
Kate and I had a pleasant time at our sister-in-law’s birthday last night. I met M in the 1970s when she was 15 at Massey University. She was …
Jul 25, 2024:
Another night in hospital
It’s been an interesting and slightly disturbing couple of days. What started as a hospital appointment for a CT scan to plan some radiation on …
Jul 22, 2024: 🐕Making short work of the human’s porridge pot
Jul 22, 2024: Joe Biden stepping down from presidential race As an outside and largely indifferent observer of US politics, I believe that Biden’s decision not to stand in the election is wise. Given his …
Jul 21, 2024:
Parliamentary select committee appearance on community adaptation to climate change
Early this week, Tuesday 20 July, my colleague, neighbour and friend Conor Twyford and I spoke to the New Zealand parliament Finance and Expenditure …
Jul 21, 2024: The big OE It’s the second-to-last day of our son and daughter-in-law’s stay at our place before they head off to the UK on Tuesday for their big OE. …
Jul 21, 2024:
Faith in dealing with illness
When my haematologist told me in November last year that, after 13 years of treatment, they had run out of publicly-funded options for treating my …
Jul 19, 2024: IT outage Crikey. You go for morning tea at a friend’s new unit* and then a lunchtime concert, only to get home to discover there’s a worldwide IT …
Jul 19, 2024: Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard 🎵It’s been a long time since I listened to this, and like many of my old records, it’s hard to understand why I left it so long. …
Jul 19, 2024:
Why do I love Pukerua Bay?
Reflections on my home town It is just before Christmas 1988, and you are looking for a nest of your own. You look at townhouses in other parts of …
Jul 19, 2024: Danish choir Ungklang 🎵We spent a very pleasant hour in the middle of the day today at a concert by Ungklang, a Danish choir here for the World Choral Games. The group …
Jul 19, 2024:
We're going solar on our house
When we moved into the new house we built three years ago, I was pretty keen on getting solar panels on the roof and using solar power as much as …