Guy Fawkes Day be damned. Today is Parihaka Day: Parihaka, 5 November 1881:
more than 1,500 volunteers and members of the Constabulary Field Force invaded Parihaka …many houses were destroyed, and most of the residents forcibly evacuated.
In bed and wondering why some silly fool is letting off fireworks nearby. Then I remembered it’s almost Guy Fawkes night and the general public are still allowed to buy fireworks. Unbelievable! Poor old Sasha is terrified, and Oshi’s growling and barking.
I’ve long wanted to own some Apple shares, but $$$$$. Now however, I do, or at least 0.15 of 1 share. Thanks to Sharesies allowing people to buy shares in small amounts, and even partial shares. One day I’ll get all the way to 1 share, I hope.
I spotted this beetle on a railing near the house. It’s bright green with a reddish stripe down its back. After web searching I’ve determined it’s a beetle, but I can’t discover what kind. Very bright green though.
I’m holding a thought for all my US pals on this eve of such a significant election. For all of you, and also for us in the rest of the world, I hope you can root out the evil that is in power today and set your nation back on a path to a positive future.
Wow, I was visiting the NZ Parliament website and came across a broken link. I clicked their email address which brought up a usefully pre-filled email asking for relevant URLs. Less than 60 minutes after sending, the link has been fixed and they’ve let me know the new URL.
Xena: Warrior Princess was filmed in NZ, for a US audience. One effect was that the sun rose or set in the ‘wrong’ direction (in the many speeded up rise / set sequences). And it would always astonish me, just a little.
Like the LtoR sun on the Solar Dial Apple Watch face…
My favourite visitor is here today. 😎🐩
The NZ Prime Minister has announced her new Cabinet, including more Māori than ever. Hooray!
In the Press Conference, when journalists asked some of their questions in Te Reo Māori, I had to really concentrate to be able to (partly) understand the questions and answers.
Excellent: NZ’s May 2021 Census:
will collect data on gender and sexual identity … [with] questions on a person’s sex at birth, gender identity and sexual identity.
[In 2018] we just had ‘are you male or female’ that’s neither sex nor gender
First time in months I took my ‘big' Fuji X-T2 with zoom lens to the beach; first time ever I saw 9 Royal Spoonbills together (I had hoped for 2). What a wonderful way to start the week! Nine of these amazing birds!
Aotearoa New Zealand has a lot going for it. One of those things is most definitely not its incredibly dreary National Anthem. Though the linked video in NZ Sign Language, Māori and English makes it seem positively peppy.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch is absolutely my favourite sci-fi writer, but in a shocking first I was bored by Thieves: A Diving Novel. It was part of a Kickstarter Bundle, and especially odd because The Renegat was superb.
Hooray! Greens accept Labour’s offer for ‘cooperation agreement’:
James Shaw … Climate Change Minister and Associate Environment (Biodiversity), while Marama Davidson … Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence and Associate Minister of Housing (Homelessness).
In a world where there are millions of statues of men, there is now one more of a woman. ‘Hands-on activist’: Statue of Hilda Ross:
Dame Hilda Ross was … Minister of Social Security, … of Welfare of Women and Children and …of Child Welfare … [she] died in 1959 at the age of 75.
Excellent: even though Labour won our election outright, they’re bringing the Greens on board with a couple of Minister positions using their expertise on Climate change, homelessness, sexual violence (provided Green members accept the deal). It’s not a Coalition though.
When bots are used to fight for good: More than 200,000 abusive tweets towards female candidates during elections:
a tweet goes through … filters … once it scores 90% ‘most likely to be toxic’, the bot replies with a positive tweet.
Worth a read.👍
It’s meant to rain today — we already had a brief but heavy fall around 4 am. As I look east I see very dark cloud over the hills, and some weird rolling waveforms.
The day has all but disappeared and many tasks remain undone. Read an excellent book though whose details I can’t reveal at the moment so that was a real bonus.
Cannabis will remain illegal in Aotearoa New Zealand. That means that instead of state control on quality and distribution, it will remain in the control of gangs and other criminals who will take profits without regard to the humans affected.