At last! For the longest time I’ve been annoyed by Safari Reader using white text on a dark background. Today, finally, I searched. Click the tiny AA at the right end of the URL bar then choose preferred settings. Select colours, font size and font family. Whew!
Whakaari, aka White Island, erupted yesterday: 5 dead , 34 injured, 8 missing. There is no hope the missing have survived.
”2 groups on the island - those who were able to be evacuated and those who were close to the eruption."
… from Australia, US, UK, China, Malaysia, NZ.
Yup, that’s New Zealand: if we’re not having earthquakes or breathing Australian bushfire smoke, then maybe we’re having a volcanic Eruption at Whakaari / White Island. The bad news is at least 20 people have been injured, 7 critically.
Fortunately it was easy to get my refund from the Levin Stihl shop. I asked for the guy I dealt with last time. He saw the problem and the $120 refund was immediate. They’d charged me for a whole reel of line instead of the 1 metre they put on after repairing the head.
About 10 days ago I had our weedeater repaired and serviced. The cost was eye-watering, but I was busy, stressed or unwell or something and didn’t challenge it. Today I was about to throw out the receipt when I saw it included an expensive item I didn’t buy. Off to get a refund…
Thanks for the latest Trek podcast @macgenie . As a non-American I had absolutely no idea about the LA Gangs stuff. My only knowledge of LA gangs is from various crime shows. As a non-US white person I was also woefully ignorant about the Latin American character stuff too.
Now that lupin season is almost finished, thank goodness, it’s Tui on the flax flowers season. This Tui appeared after today’s 25mm of rain stopped. 🐦 I’m so glad I planted flaxes right by the front door.
Deb made Mary Berry’s scones today and they were wonderful. Very light. She had to use quail eggs as we didn’t have any hen eggs.
Our friend Willow came to visit for a few hours today. 🐶 Meanwhile, everyone was looking at me, including Oshi and Sasha.
Interesting note about growing older:
researchers found big shifts occurred in the readings of multiple proteins around age 34, age 60 and age 78.
Of 1,379 proteins found to change with age, 895 were significantly more predictive for one sex compared with the other.
A photo on my watch reminded me that in the first part of December 2008 I was in Hawai’i to teach some WordPress courses. I loved the zoo. Photos: Me at the top of Mauna Kea. Komodo Dragon. Secretary Bird and Crowned Cranes. Giant Galapagos Tortoise.
This morning I woke from an unpleasant dream feeling slightly bewildered and anxious. I know dreams are just the brain sorting and assessing, but I was concerned this one may be predictive. A cup of tea and a bit of gardening has brought reality back into perspective.
Down in Porirua some of the pohutukawa are starting to flower. A sign that Christmas is close.
Thanks to @bix for the pointer to this interesting article. I was specially caught by this sentence:
The ability to disregard the opinions from the group that is being disadvantaged, the ability to escape accountability for actions, and the ability to benefit from others’ oppression are at the heart of why blackfishing is so damaging.
And substitute any number of other practises for ‘blackfishing’.
White Instagram Influencers Have Created a New Form of Blackface
I only ever learned our awful national anthem, God Defend New Zealand, in English. These days many sing it in Te Reo. Here’s verse 1:
E Ihowā Atua,
O ngā iwi mātou rā
Āta whakarangona;
Me aroha noa
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau tō atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa
Why a photo of my left forearm, wrist and hand? (In some languages they would all be the same word) With any luck, this is a Before photo. Updates to come in a few days. 🤞🏽
Black Ink 2: another superb Mac app from @danielpunkass! If you love words, you’ll love this. I’m now a fan of the free Wall Street Journal puzzles. Tab goes from clue to clue, arrow keys select cross words, while red tells me if I’m wrong. BI 2 leaves my brain free to solve.
Moreover, many native English speakers pronounce the Māori word ‘ngai’ as just ‘nai’, but that initial sound should move the tongue way back, tip down so it’s like the sound many make in the word ‘singing’ (not those who make a clear ‘g’ sound). Some sounds are hard to move.
Pronunciation fascinates me: exactly where do tongue, lips etc go to sound out words? English speakers put their tongue tip just behind the top teeth to start a word like ‘nock’ (as in arrow). But ‘knock' starts the same way — these days. Once it began with a ‘k’ in the throat.