Miraz Jordan

Delightful! — Britain's First Hospital for Houseplants Just Opened. The Patients Are Put on Drips and Quarantined for Bugs (scroll down):

Rosanna Costello had always wanted a place where she could drop off a struggling houseplant and have someone who actually knew what they were doing take care of it. When she couldn't find one, she built it. The Hilda Houseplant Hospital in Edinburgh is Britain's first dedicated houseplant care facility, offering consultations, repotting, pest quarantine, liquid drip feeding, and detailed aftercare advice sized to each customer's living space.

We enjoyed Project Hail Mary:

In 2032, American middle school teacher and former molecular biologist Ryland Grace wakes up from an induced coma on the interstellar spacecraft Hail Mary, suffering from amnesia. Grace learns that he is the sole survivor of a three-person crew that was traveling towards the Tau Ceti system, 11.9 light-years from Earth.

It was more fun and funnier than I'd expected.

This item — Dark shadows in 'piece of paradise' after violent deaths:

… a drive to bring Hokianga residents together and protect the vulnerable, while trying to loosen methamphetamine's grip on their community.

… reminded me how much we enjoyed watching the superb Kiwi cop show Bust Up.

There were many reasons why it was a great watch, but it also offered reminders that in tiny communities everyone knows or is related to everyone else. It's the kind of thing that can make it harder to fight against drug crimes, for example.

I really like that the Sophora Dragons Gold has flowers in mid-winter.

Doing one of my favourite things: sitting in the lounge in the dark before dawn. A sliver of Moon is looking down on me, and I can see Sirius glittering in the East.

This is interesting — InterWalk - Intermittent Walking Training:

Regular walking maintains a steady pace throughout, while interval walking varies intensity levels. Interval walking provides greater cardiovascular benefits, increased calorie burn, and improved fitness gains in less time compared to steady-state walking.

And the app appears to be free …

Via: Dr Ruth Machin newsletter, 11 July 2026.

See also: Health benefits of interval walking training.

Great to attend a Matariki and 80th birthday celebration.

Mānawatia a Matariki! Ngā mihi o te tau hou.

Happy Matariki folks, and Happy New Year.

Today we celebrate the Māori new year. Very fitting for mid-winter, with the days slowly getting longer.

Matariki:

In Māori culture, Matariki is the Pleiades star cluster and a celebration of its first rising in late June or early July. The rising marks the beginning of the new year in the Māori lunar calendar.

Up by the industrial area is a small lake where people sail their model boats.

A nearby house is for sale. One of the aerial photos shows the groundwork going on behind our house (in the pink circle).

Ugh, for no reason I can discern, today I simply have zero energy. A good day to laze around reading.

Idea: We should let people vote :

Increasingly, it seems our politicians are getting things backwards, seeing voting as a gift rather than a vital bulwark of society. But we’re meant to pick them. They’re not meant to pick us. There’s a reason they can be classified as public servants. The public are supposed to be their bosses, able to make them redundant every few years if they’re not up to scratch.

🤣 The Bra-and-Girdle Maker That Fashioned the Impossible for NASA:

Once agreed upon, the only problem came with sizing the most intimate part of the suit assembly, the urinary collection device (UCD) that slid over the astronaut’s penis. After an “incident” with the first astronaut fitted for the device, the UCD’s designations were changed from “Small, Medium, Large” to “Large,” “Extra Large,” and “Extra-Extra Large.”

Thanks to sundogplanets@mastodon.social for the link to the article.

Here‘s a pleasing benefit from a lot of rain

I've lost track of the number of States of Emergency in 2026, thanks to wind and rain, mainly.

Isn't it well past time for our government, and in fact everyone, to start acting urgently on climate change — to deflect it, not just to remediate after events?

The subdivision behind us will have about 90 houses. The part we can see will have half a dozen.

I'd thought they'd leave 'our' bit till last because it's boggy, but no, it's first.

After some heavy rain last night the digger spent a while this morning redistributing water.

Apparently today Earth is at Aphelion.