Miraz Jordan

Just wait till they plug in the AI decision-makers!

MSD told thousands food was ‘not an essential need’:

The Ministry of Social Development has told thousands of people that food was “not an essential need”, in what it now calls an admin error …

More than 318,000 individuals – nearly 6% of the New Zealand population – asked for grants for food in 2025 alone, with the ministry paying out more than $130m. On average, each person asked for help around four times.

Nearly 6% of the New Zealand population! That's a shocking number.

Spring flowers in the dunes beside the track to the beach.

Ohhh, when looking at ingredients on packaged food sodium and salt are not the same — Beyond Salt: The Secret Reason Your Blood Pressure Stays High Despite Your Diet

in the UK, the packet … gives you the amount of salt in grams, and the general guidance for adults is around 6 g a day. But in the US, the label gives you the sodium in milligrams instead. And the guidance there is roughly 2,300 mg a day.

… they are more or less the same because salt is only about 40% sodium by weight. If you ever want to convert between them take the sodium figure and multiply it by 2 and a half and that gives you the amount of salt.

Today I learned about "global fatigue" after weeks of weight training, which may explain why last week I just wanted to laze around — Should You Take a Week Off Exercise?

Eventually, we get a buildup of something called global fatigue, which is fatigue throughout your whole body, not just in the muscles that you've worked. And the only way to get rid of that fatigue is to actually take a week off.

How cool! Restoration takes so much work — New Yorkers eat 3 million oysters a year and the shells are rebuilding the harbor:

[New York Harbor oysters] filtered the water, absorbed wave energy, and provided habitat for fish, crabs, and birds … overharvesting and pollution eliminated them …

75 … restaurants now divert their discarded oyster shells to the project …. The shells are cured in a pile until bacteria and invasive species are eliminated, then seeded with larvae …

The project has raised 200 million live oysters across 19 acres of restored reef

On Saturday we visited the Whangārei Farmer's Market to stock up on fruit and veg. Plus we bought preservative-free beef sausages and lean mince from a local organic farm.

Afterwards we enjoyed breakfast with a friend at the very popular (and very loud) Bob Cafe.

The fried eggs over easy were delicious though.

I know that weather doesn't go in a straight line, but it does finally feel as though spring has arrived. I sat in the sun for a while reading, before a cool breeze came up. ☀️

One each of many reasons why my vote this year will not be going to either NZ First or ACT.

As I drove past the end of Papich Road the other day I wondered what was down there. Turns out there's a hidden gem of a park and walkway.

It's a roughly 2 Km return walk, with grassy areas, native trees, and at the end, a short pier and entry to the beach. The latter part of the walk skirts the port, flanked on one side by a maybe 5 metre high wooden wall.

Apparently seals sometimes rest beside the shore.

A nice bit of punnery in our other election this year: 'Manufestos and wings': The new twist in this month's Bird of the Year competition:

this year, the avian election comes with a twist - Aotearoa's manu have been sorted into six different political parties - the shore birds, the floor birds, the tree birds, the sea birds, the high birds and the shy birds. …

"They're not arranged along traditional human political lines in our election," Toleman said. "Every candidate has a left wing and a right wing and each party has a manufesto.

"Like with any election there could be scandal along the way, we expect some ruffled feathers around the house."

OK, I haven't read the study, but the conclusion is interesting. BMD = Bone Mineral Density — Longitudinal Association of Coffee and Tea Consumption with Bone Mineral Density in Older Women

Conclusions: Tea consumption was associated with higher total hip BMD in postmenopausal women, whereas excessive coffee intake (>5 cups/day) may adversely affect BMD. Coffee consumption was negatively associated with femoral neck BMD in women with higher alcohol intake, while tea consumption appeared particularly beneficial for those with obesity.

Drink tea! 😆

I was wondering today: how come we call acres of machines that harvest the power of wind, 'wind farms'. But then if it's structures to harvest the sun we call them 'solar farms'.

I'm declaring it now: from this day forth I'm going to call them 'sun farms'. 😆

I visited Marsden Point Beach at the end of Mair Street today.

With the breeze from the west, this east coast water was like glass. For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊

Across the road from Harbour Keys cafe is a pretty beach with pōhutukawa trees right down to the water. I visited at mid-tide.

I walked over these flat black rocks going north. By the time I came back 15 minutes later they were surrounded by water (photo). I had to go bouldering instead. 😆

This morning I went to Harbour Keys cafe in One Tree Point where I enjoyed scrambled eggs on toast with grilled tomato, with an orange and horopito herbal tea.

The outside table I chose also had a framed view of Mt Manaia.

I was a bit dispirited by my gym progress over the last few months, and mildly reluctant to go today, so I set out to drop each weight down and do more reps.

I've also had trouble with my dead hang lately, having worked up to 2x 52 seconds, so today I did 3x 40 seconds.

It all went quite well.