Miraz Jordan

Here it comes (video): Queen Elizabeth II Death Gun Salute to mark her passing. At 1 round every 10 seconds (my guess), 96 guns must take ~16 minutes. That’s a lot of guns!

Wow — The Queen’s death: All you need to know about what happens next:

There will be a 96 gun salute starting at 6pm, Friday night on the Wellington waterfront in front of Te Papa.

96 guns. I’ve heard a few less than 20 in my time, but 96! Won’t be able to hear it from here…

Today’s neighbours include some who are beefier than usual.

An interesting little snippet: Queen Elizabeth Sent the First-Ever Royal Email in 1976!:

On March 26, 1976, the Queen visited the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, a telecommunications research centre in Malvern, England, and using ARPANET… sent an email.

I’m no Monarchist but this is still a huge moment:

Queen Elizabeth II … has died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.

her eldest son Charles … will lead the country in mourning as the new King and head of state for 14 Commonwealth realms.

I was weeding a patch of driveway garden when a Green and Golden Bell frog appeared. It moved away. Moments later, when I moved some greenery aside to weed further there was a sound like a tiny scream. I guess I gave it a fright. 🐸

The local rabbits must have had a working bee overnight. For months there’s been a hole in the bank, presumably leading to a burrow. This morning there was a (relatively) huge pile of sand and the hole and tunnel have been massively expanded.

The mountains have a touch of snow today, thanks to an icy wind straight off the Antarctic. Fujifilm Astia film simulation. Trying for a @cliffordbeshers look. 😀

The Orville S03 seemed different from the first 2 seasons so I went back and rewatched those seasons recently. I enjoyed them as much as the first time, maybe even more. They were ‘lighter’ than S03 but explored interesting life issues with depth and humour. A really good show!

The neighbour’s pine tree is loaded with pollen. Ah-choo!

OK, Celebrate Tongan Language Week:

There are only 17 letters in the ‘alafapeti faka-Tonga:

A E F H I K L M N NG O P S T U V ‘ 

The ‘alafapeti includes the fakau’a (glottal stop), which comes before a vowel

Fascinating: Scientists Discover That a Surprising Factor Improved The Effects of Ketamine in Mice:

ketamine worked better when administered by males because [male] scent stresses the mice, activating the CRF system, which enhances their body’s stress response.

An almost pastoral idyllic scene as a cow relaxes by the shore of the rainwater lake in the paddock next door.

Spotted on today’s trip to the supermarket: Wakachangi Beer. I suppose the ‘humour’ is supposed to somehow neutralise the use of a stereotyped swooning woman with breasts all but exposed…

Good grief! I was listening to some Andalusian Arabic music and wondered about an instrument that sometimes sounds like a cross between a duck quacking and a dog barking. I figured it was a bowed two-string instrument and called up Wikipedia’s List of bowed string instruments. That list has hundreds of entries.

I think the one I was looking for was the Rebab.

Turns out I love listening to Andalusian Arabic music…

The movie Master Cheng, aka A Spice for Life, was an absolute delight. A Chinese man and his young son arrive in a tiny village in the north of Finland, looking for someone no-one has heard of. I don’t want to say more and spoil it, but I loved every minute. 🍿

Sasha: Excuse me. I’m pretty sure it’s Anchovy time. 🐶

[Because she’s blind, she doesn’t know she’s not actually looking at me.]

Excellent 7.5 minute video: Where does the name “black hole” come from?:

…used to be called “gravitationally completely collapsed objects” so where did the name “black hole” come from? Especially considering they’re not “black” or “holes”!

Spoiler: Black Hole of Calcutta.

With the wet Winter and now Spring all the grass and weeds and whatnot are growing. I spent an hour and a half weedeating today. One small portion was the track down to and then around the septic tank.