Miraz Jordan

Thank goodness for the On This Day page on my blog (and checking it). Deb, who’s really sick with a terrible cold, and I had both forgotten it’s our 26th anniversary! Last year I posted about it…

Back in the day a lot of the native plants around New Zealand’s beaches were cleared, leading to all kinds of problems. The local Council bought $5,000 worth of native spinifex and pīngao for our community. Last weekend and this volunteers planted out the 3,500 plants. 👍 ☀️

A Takfox Phone Holster for my iPhone 11 arrived. At NZ$20 + shipping the price was acceptable. It has a ‘flange' that makes it seem big, but the phone fits well. Noisy velcro, and the belt clip doesn’t seem utterly secure. I’ll try the belt loop. Nice to have a holster again.

St John’s Ambulance was doing free blood pressure checks. Mine was 140/80. But they need ageism training: “How many years young are you?”, “You look good for your age”. Like every living thing I’m getting older. I’m fine with that. I look like one 64 year old looks.

Really interesting 26 minute interview with Geena Davis:

A report by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, 15 years in the making, has just revealed that gender parity in children’s television has been achieved. But that doesn’t mean her work is done.

What makes dogs so special and successful? Love.

Dogs fall in love much more easily than people …evidence indicates dogs can form new loving relationships … and don’t seem to have the same level of trauma from being taken away from preexisting loving relationships.

👉🏼 @pratik

Oshi and Sasha were just gone! 🐶 I’d stopped to take a photo of a snow-topped Tararua peak, picked up a discarded plastic bottle, turned around, and the dogs were gone. Tl;dr: I got them back after prolonged searching and enlisting help from passersby. 🐶🐶 were unrepentant!

Whew!: How to switch between list view and honeycomb app grid on Apple Watch

From your watch face, press the home button once to open the app screen. Then, press firmly on the display….

Press the List View icon to switch…. The app screen transforms into a plain list

Slomo video is fun. The audio on such videos is excruciating though. It was stupid hard to remove the audio: I eventually imported to iMovie, muted the audio and re-exported. So: new iPhone 11 and I’m playing with camera stuff. Slomo of dogs running on the beach. 🐶

When a day becomes ’gritty’ a trip to localish cafe Salt and Pepper for lunch can give it a lift. Mushroom and bacon pasta, with green tea.

I’ve used the Spark email app for the last year or more — very happily. The last while though it’s been using ridiculous resources on my Mac so I’ve started with Apple Mail for the first time ever. Mail won’t let me paste or use TextExpander in header fields such as Subject! 🤯

This 11 minute video is so interesting: Money Is A Technological Fiction (The Invention of $$$)

the history of money, from physical barter to bitcoin, … money isn’t just a lie we all agree to share, it’s been built on the back of technology and invention for millennia.

My MacBook Pro is about 2 years old now. That means that by 2022 at the latest I’ll want to buy a new one. That could cost around NZ$6,000.

I had $3,000 in mind while I was walking the dogs doing the mental arithmetic that led me to believe I need to save $30 per week for 2 years — quite a stretch in my current circumstances.

Years ago I bought a few shares. That was a big stretch then. It required a minimum amount of $500 or $1000 or something, plus a huge buying fee.

A year or two back though Sharesies started up in New Zealand. (Use that link in the next 30 days and I’ll get $5 to invest.) You can invest in various shares — as little as $5 per time, and buying even partial share amounts. A recent $10 purchase got me 1.8477 shares in the NZ Mid Cap Fund.

I’ve gradually invested several hundred dollars now.

So: since putting money in the bank earns me cents, while some of my shares are giving returns at the moment of 38% (others have made a loss) I’ve realised I can take my chances with shares.

I’m now sending $25 per week to Sharesies where I intend to invest in shares with a good return. In a couple of years I may have enough ‘saved’ to look at buying a new Mac.

Who knows by then what Macs may be like, or how much they’ll cost, but at least I’ll have some options.

Fingers crossed I can continue this regular savings amount. In about 4 months my income will increase substantially when I become eligible for superannuation so that’ll help. New Mac here I come!

Kiwis: there are 6 interviews in this Matangireia series. So far I’ve watched the first, with Metiria Turei. Definitely worth the 45 minutes.

I’m starting to feel like the neighbourhood complainer… I’ve just emailed our Council to find out who to discuss the neighbours very smoky garden rubbish fires with. We’re in a total fire ban area, for heaven’s sake. I’m sick of having all doors and windows shut all the time.

The last 6 weeks or so were a bit bumpy: Deb had a health issue, now in hand, I had a cold that knocked me a bit, then we had a week’s wonderful holiday. The whole time I was caring for my elderly, frail cat Ares, who died last week. Today is Monday and time to get back on track.

I was struck the other day by these words from Vint Cerf:

Anyone, no matter their disability, doesn’t wake up thinking they are disabled. They know there are things they do where they need help, like my hearing aids. But that’s a question of recovering capability to function. So it’s very important for employers to understand their focus is not on their disability but what people can do.

Many of us will experience disability as we get older. Everyone who has a temporary disability will recognize what they can’t do at that time.

Via: Alan Ralph.

Cerf’s phrasing really brings to light the fallacy of the ‘perfect human’, the notion that there are people who are somehow not disabled.

I like the notion of simply needing help. I’ve worn glasses since I was about 11 or so — technology ‘helps’ me see better. There have been numerous occasions where I’ve needed a more temporary help too. There will be many more in future.

Even if there somehow is some ‘perfect’ human who needs no help of any kind right this minute, perhaps they will tomorrow when they catch a cold or sprain their wrist. We all needed help for years after we were born. Some of us need more help than others, at different moments in our lives.

Let’s celebrate what we can do, and find ways to help people fulfil their potential, whatever their needs.

For years I’ve used a leather holster for my phone. The linked holsters are superbly made and worth their price. However, I can’t afford that this time round and have spent hours searching for a cheaper option. I’ve ended up with a Takfox nylon holster for the new iPhone 11.

Good start: Countdown ends firework sales

Countdown supermarket is to stop selling fireworks.

The announcement follows a recent customer survey, which found that 66 percent of customers either rarely or never bought fireworks.

Let’s ban the things from public sale.

Mattel Is Releasing the First Gender-Neutral Doll

The doll can be a boy, a girl, neither or both, and Mattel, which calls this the world’s first gender-neutral doll, is hoping its launch redefines who gets to play with a toy traditionally deemed taboo for half the world’s kids.