Miraz Jordan

OK, fellow Star Trek (Original Series) fans, give this a try: Star Force: Sci-Fisolation. LOL 🖖🏼

Read up about it at Star Force: the surprise smash webseries is The Mighty Boosh for Trekkies

Some good laughs there.

… Writing the monthly-ish community newsletter. But first I have to make sure the community blog posts are up-to-date so the newsletter can refer to them. A blurt of blog posts…

Ages ago I used to have a bank account with ASB / Bank Direct. Today they called and said they needed to pay me $11.94 for incorrectly taken account fees. (I’ll bet that was some legal finding.) I opted for them to direct it to their charity aimed at low income households.

Oh dear, Fiji — Severe Cyclone Yasa (Cat5) expected to make landfall in Fiji late today

one of the most powerful [cyclones] on record in the South Pacific and certainly one for the history books – and this is before it’s even reached Fiji properly.

If you wondered about that red car stuck on our beach (Sometimes people drive along the beach), read how things worked out at A bit of an odyssey. Includes photos and movies.

Thank you @NetNewsWire for allowing me to Undo Mark All (feeds) Read when I intended to simply apply it to only one feed. Whew!

Here’s one for @macgenie and others: “Hey Siri, what does a guinea pig sound like?”

Apple’s Siri can now make animal sounds like a duck quacking or a lion roaring

Wheek!

Ah, ‘tis the season of the Christmas bunny. Falalalalah lah lah lah lah.

In the maw of the monster.

Today the dogs and I drove to the village, crossed the footbridge and walked down beside the river to view the abandoned sunk car. The view along the way was OK.

Flossing for a dentist visit tomorrow. Months ago, during Shutdown, a bit of tooth fell off a filling at the back — no pain or anything. Tonight’s flossing made another large chunk fall off the same tooth. That’ll mean a crown for sure. 🦷 💲💲💲 😒

Good timing though!

Here’s the longer story about that Oystercatcher egg.

The dogs and I were walking from the beach track to the river when I almost stepped on an odd-looking ‘stone’ lying alone in the sand. I picked it up — it was quite heavy — thinking the coloration was more like a bird’s egg. Then I realised it was in fact a bird egg.

Given the size I thought perhaps it was from a black-backed gull, a large bird. It was cold so I puzzled how it came to be lying by itself on the sand, and I put it in my pocket to take home.

We walked on, and soon passed the oystercatchers who did their usual squawking and distracting.

I’d read:

Nests are normally simple scrapes in the sand, often with a marker of driftwood, vegetation, or flotsam. The 2-3 eggs are usually laid from October onwards (rarely September), and replaced if lost. Incubation is shared and takes about 28 days. Chicks fly at 6-7 weeks-old, and late chicks may not fledge until March.

I’ve never been able to actually spot their nest, but the birds are in that place every year. We have a couple of pairs actually, not too far from one another.

At the river I chatted with a friend, showing him the egg. He identified it as an Oystercatcher egg and we talked about where I’d found it.

I followed my footprints back and put the egg where I thought I’d picked it up. A few moments later I spotted their nest and moved the egg over there.

My friend and I added a few sticks around the nest to provide an iota of extra protection. Our beach is well used by walkers with and without dogs, horse riders and people in all manner of vehicles — cars, tractors, quad bikes, trail bikes. Many hoon around at speed and with no regard for wildlife or the beach environment.

We’ve had quite a spell of rough weather lately, with high tides and big swells, along with wind and rain. I suspect the stray egg was dislodged from the nest, perhaps by the tide, which is why I could pick it up with no protest from the parent birds.

Variable oystercatchers breed in monogamous pairs, and defend territories vigorously against neighbours. Nests are normally simple scrapes in the sand, often with a marker of driftwood, vegetation, or flotsam. The 2-3 eggs are usually laid from October onwards (rarely September), and replaced if lost. Incubation is shared and takes about 28 days. Chicks fly at 6-7 weeks-old, and late chicks may not fledge until March. Chicks are vigorously defended by both parents, often well after fledging.

I hope that egg and the two siblings survive. We’re entering the height of people-at-the-beach season. The Christmas summer holidays start in a week or so, and the beach will be a chaos of activity for two or three weeks.

Breeding success of variable oystercatchers is often low, with main causes of failure being predation of eggs or chicks by a range of mammalian and avian predators, flooding of nests by big tides, and disturbance resulting from human recreational use of the coast.

From: Semicolon: How a misunderstood punctuation mark can improve your writing, enrich your reading and even change your life

‘You can never revise too often !’ I used to tell students, before I had read much James.

From Semicolon…

Having a more advanced knowledge of a language provides a wonderful opportunity to be welcoming and constructive, if you prioritise communication over a set of fictitious rules.

From Semicolon…

The semicolon represents a way to slow down, to stop,**** and to think; it measures time more…

****A stop without stopping completely. Who wants the full stop right now, with its silence and finality like a red button pressed, or a clock striking midnight?

I had no idea! 🎬 How New Zealand's film industry boomed during the pandemic:

According to the New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage, the [film] industry supports about 21,000 local jobs and contributes $NZ2.7 billion to its GDP every year.

There are worse places to be stuck in traffic than beside a vineyard.