Miraz Jordan

Imagine the nightmare for word-processing software if this hadn't settled down:

Like the Greeks, the Etruscans and Italic-speakers wrote from right to left at first. Later they went through a phase called boustrophedon or ‘ox-turning’, when a line written right to left alternated with one written left to right, until they plumped definitively for left to right.

Source: Proto: A New History of Our Ancient Past, Chapter 5, by Laura Spinney.

This was a worthwhile 7.5 minute watch from Minute Food, a useful channel — The secret loophole in food advertising:

There’s a robust system in place to protect US consumers from misleading advertising…but that doesn’t mean you should actually believe what companies say.

Spoiler: puffery.

We went sightseeing today along the newly opened Te Ahu a Turanga | Manawatū Tararua Highway:

The road features a range of mahi toi (cultural art) at lookouts, roundabouts and on bridges that have been designed by the project’s iwi partners.

There is a shared path for pedestrians, cyclists and mobility devices.

It was very impressive, with big terracing work either side of the road and the sweeping arms of the wind farm all around.

The rest areas were full, so I simply grabbed one shot from the car. The shared path was busy too, with walkers, runners and cyclists.

We visited Nanyang Flavours in Shannon which now opens for lunch.

For $15.50 I had an extremely delicious and filling Sweet BBQ 'Char-Siu' Bento:

Roasted chicken marinated in a sweet BBQ 'Char-siu' sauce served with rice, hard-boiled egg and seasonal salad with 'Charsiu' sauce dressing.

Why Puanga is the star of this Matariki:

Māori ways of marking time are inherently place-based, whakapapa-based, and deeply rooted in the local knowledge of each hapū.

… we don’t just read the stars – we read the land, the tides, the birds, the trees and the wind. Puanga’s reappearance in the pre-dawn winter sky is just one tohu among many. It signals a time of pause, of remembering those who have passed and of planting seeds – literal and metaphorical – for what comes next.

Hmmm. Colonisation via timekeeping — Why Puanga is the star of this Matariki:

With colonisation came a new system of timekeeping – the Gregorian calendar. In 1868, New Zealand became the first country to have a nationwide time decided by the government for everyone to follow. There were 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year. Laws like the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 aimed to repress mātauranga Māori in favour of western knowledge, leading to the loss of many traditional practices.

This random find has been a very relaxing 3.5 hours accompaniment this morning — Black Cats Sax & Deep Bass Show (music only, no video).

No rules, no rush—just a natural flow of music that feels effortless and deeply soothing.

This playlist captures the spirit of a free and easy lo-fi jazz session, imagined through the quiet charm of black cats.

Sunrise this morning was OK.

There was a decent frost this morning. Looking south, towards the paddock with the neighbour's gorgeous horses it wasn't so evident.

But looking northeast the frost was a lot more obvious.

Popped in to the supermarket, which was busy with lines at every checkout.

Then I realised it's superannuation day …

Hmm, this is the part of the country we're moving to in a couple of months … The future for Northland weather: Storm alerts are 'the new normal' | RNZ News:

This year has already brought almost every possible weather extreme to Northland, with record rain hot on the heels of a drought, a cyclone and even a tornado. Are Northlanders experiencing a new normal? Is this a sign of things to come? Or just par for the course in a region that's always had its share of extremes?

My initial reaction was that the businesses that destroyed the habitat should be paying for this — but it turns out that is the case. I'd say the headline's careless / provocative.

DOC spends hundreds of thousands to care for snails after mining destroys home | RNZ News:

Not all of the cost of the species' survival had been shouldered by DOC.

"The majority of the money to keep the captive population going came as part of the permitting permissions for Solid Energy when they were first set up," Aikman said.

"That was part of the agreement - if you remove the habitat, this is what we need to do."

And most of the revegetation work was being undertaken by Bathurst, which now ran the mine.

I'm seeing more and more of this on things that come out of Australia — acknowledging the ancestral lands. It's so good to see.

Is it OK to exercise less in winter? | RNZ (my emphasis):

Mandy Hagstrom is an exercise scientist at the University of New South Wales, on Gadigal land in Sydney.

Oh yeah, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — every episode a gem. 😁

S01E07 (Those Old Scientists): An accident while investigating a time portal sends Ensign Brad Boimler through time from the twenty-fourth century, and Captain Pike and his crew must get him back where he belongs before he can somehow alter the timeline.

I've always been a Trek fan.

A few days ago when looking for something enjoyable to watch I landed on Season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on TVNZ. A guaranteed good show that I've seen before.

Suddenly though it's available for only one more day, and I'm less than half way through the season. 😒

So disappointed!