Miraz Jordan

Gave the quail a bit of a treat today: fresh straw and macrocarpa ‘roofing’. That white plastic tray was the best $2 I ever spent at a school fair.

The book Open Season: Book One of the critically-acclaimed Seasons Mystery Series by Maryann Miller was an odd read that left me feeling uncomfortable. I won’t be reading more of this series. Maybe the 2014 publication date excuses its lack of awareness about white privilege. 📚

Dallas police detective Sarah Kingsly is still reeling from community protests over her accidental shooting of a 14-year-old African-American boy … Meanwhile, in a PR move, her superiors team her with a new, African-American partner, Angel Johnson. Both women must overcome their mistrust of each other and thorny racial conflicts as they try to solve a series of mall murders.

When 15 August and the start of the whitebaiting season rolls around it is still winter. Frosty mornings aren't unusual and the river water will be cold. That doesn't deter the keenest whitebaiters though who appear at first light the moment the season opens.

They drive down to the Waikawa Beach river mouth and set up 'camp' in their cars and vans, or on their quad bikes, and position nets at their chosen spot in the water's flow.

Many of the whitebaiters are locals, but others arrive from elsewhere, nets adorning car roofs like alien tracking devices.

Waders, of course, are required, but parkas and wooly hats help fend off the chill. Even icy sou'west winds don't deter the staunchest. They are, after all, keen for a feed, or perhaps just a few hours fishing.

Many of them 'clump up', chatting as the tide washes through the nets, maybe tossing out bits of bread to keep the gulls away from their catch. Others though are loners, working their spot in splendid isolation.

And why not? On a calm and sunny day there's clean sea air to enjoy, the water washing by, the peace and quiet of the shore, the distant horizon.

Sometimes the fishers arrange driftwood into shelters, or seats. Other times they bring their own camp chairs or sit in their vehicle where they may also brew up a warming cuppa.

As the season wears on, all the way to 30 November, the numbers of whitebaiters fall off, though the hard core keep going all the way to the end.

No-one ever seems to admit to having had a great catch — maybe just enough for a good feed for the family. And debates continue between those who say whitebait are threatened and those who deny any problem.

Whitebait are the juveniles of five species of fish: giant kōkopu, banded kōkopu, shortjaw kōkopu, inanga, and kōaro, and are part of a group called galaxiids. They need good clean water in the rivers and streams to thrive, and adult whitebait need dense bankside vegetation for spawning. Those are good incentives for sorting out the many degraded waterways in this area.

Published in Ōtaki Today, September 2020, Page 16.

Daybreak cows in the frost.

Hey @help A bug report from Micro.Blog 2.0 on Mac: the New Post window ends up behind the main window after switching apps with Command Tab.

1. New Post

2. Switch to [app] to copy text

3. Command Tab to continue writing New Post. Post window is annoyingly behind the main window.

Sex toys are one thing between consenting adults, but Internet-connected sex toys sound like a Very Bad Idea™ indeed!

This smart vibrator can be ‘easily’ hacked and remotely controlled by anyone

Security flaw left ‘smart’ chastity sex toy users at risk of permanent lock-in

Not quite the first strawberries of the season, but close. Yumm. Grown in the tunnelhouse.

Today’s highlight of the trip to the beach for a dog walk: a duck crossing the road followed by 8 or 10 tiny tiny ducklings. No photo — they were too far for my iPhone and I didn’t want to risk scaring them by moving.

OK, this looks like it should be a fun watch: The 355 - Official Trailer 🎬:

When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands [4 female agents from various countries] … rocket around the globe … [and] forge a tenuous loyalty that could protect the world—or get them killed.

The other day in the dog park at Levin I heard a Tūī in the tree right next to me. This clip starts with other birds, then the Tūī comes in. In the background someone calling a dog.

Also on Lambton Quay, 6 chaps moving a very heavy looking and very large object up Plimmer Steps. Amazingly, the two behind the object had not been crushed when I next passed by.

At Plimmer Steps on Lambton Quay, John Plimmer with his dog Fritz.

Seen on Lambton Quay in Wellington.

Today I was a good citizen and voted in the Aotearoa New Zealand general election. Polling closes on 17 October.

With summer coming, I had a window open overnight. This morning I can hear a rooster nearby. 😎

We’ve been really enjoying Netflix ☛ Away 📺:

Away follows the first crewed expedition to Mars … The series is described as being “about hope, humanity and how ultimately, we need one another if we are to achieve impossible things.”

Today’s weird beach rubbish find: fluorescent light tube.

Party colours in Aotearoa. It’s so confusing seeing news about US elections because their right-wingers are associated with red and lefties with blue. In Aotearoa the left use red and the right use blue.

Information about voting uses orange to avoid accusations of partisanship.

In Aotearoa everyone gets 2 votes:

1. vote for a specific person to represent the electorate

2. vote for a particular party to be in government.

Once votes are counted parties with enough seats can form a coalition to actually govern. Right now that’s Labour, Greens and NZ First.

In 2020 we also vote on two referenda in Aotearoa:

1. give people with a terminal illness the option of requesting assisted dying.

2. whether the recreational use of cannabis should become legal.

I intend to vote yes to both. I suspect neither will pass though.