Miraz Jordan

I’m extremely excited to announce my new project How to customise Micro.Blog, including such oft-requested tutorials as:

• Add a favicon
• Change the date format
• Hide things with CSS
• How to style an image in a post

So far, 37 posts, with more being added each week. @custom

This little 2.5 minute video is interesting: Ōtaki River Bridge

This new bridge across the Ōtaki River is part of the Expressway build. 300 tonnes, special adaptations to move with earthquakes.

Last year I studied entry level Te Reo Māori (Māori language) at Te Wananga o Aotearoa. Today I received my certificate. Reckon I could get into Starfleet HQ with that badge?

It was a cool and dreary damp morning today so I lit the fire. Oshi went in his little ‘pod’ right beside the woodburner. Ares has his special chair beside mine. Sasha prefers distance and a little cool.

Interesting 2.5 minute video: The One-Lane Bridge Shared By Cars And Trains

Near Hindon, on the South Island of New Zealand, there’s one of only two remaining one-lane road-rail bridges in the country. No barriers, no lights, no sirens:… listen out for the train horn.

Kāpiti Island at dawn.

The Waikawa Stream flows west towards the sea but then turns south across the beach. A 1991 rock groyne has submerged and a 2012 rock groyne at almost right angles has had bad results. Today two diggers excavated rock from the ‘bad’ groyne and piled it up on the ‘good' groyne.

Here’s a tip for setting up the Micro.Blog Mac app with more than one account. Go to Prefs for the first one and click the + button. Login with your default browser & continue. The next accounts also need browser login so change your default browser first to save the login/out dance.

I used Pages.app to make a calendar from now to August 2020 so locals know when to put their recycling bins out. If you have Pages it’s completely editable. So, if you’d like to grab the zipped file (210KB) to edit and make your own calendar, please do. Calendars are fiddly…

One of the great things about Kowhai (this one’s a Dragon’s Gold) is that they flower in winter.

Good read: Imperfect pitch

When people complain that a woman’s voice is ‘shrill’… there’s often no objective, acoustically measurable quality .…What people mostly mean … is ‘I don’t like her’, or ‘I don’t think this position should be occupied by a woman’.

Your Crippling Stress Levels Could Affect Your Dog More Than You Think 🐶

evidence that increased oxytocin (the love and bonding hormone) in female dogs results in increased interactions with their owner… This effect wasn’t seen in male dogs.

My Sasha loves her morning cuddles.

This critter’s a Gisborne cockroach that I found in my car. I quickly relocated it to the road. They can be up to 45mm long and don’t infest food. They like the wood pile and don’t spread disease. Australian imports…

This gorgeous girl belongs to neighbours to the southwest of us. This morning she was posing in early sun. What a beauty!

I don’t follow sports but this 15 minute video held my attention: Anne Audain, New Zealand’s most successful road runner | Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends

the only NZ woman to win Commonwealth Gold on the track after … 1982 … But … she never returned to NZ.

One thing that annoys me all the time about Safari on the Mac is that I click a link from another app to open in Safari and then Safari opens it in some random tab in some random Safari window, usually behind the window I regard as my operating window. Bah!

This 13 minute video on being a young female MP is worth a watch: Chlöe Swarbrick interviews Marilyn Waring

NZ Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick sits down with former National Party MP Marilyn Waring. Both became MPs when they were 23 years old, one in 2017, the other in 1975.

Here’s Batalha cathedral in Portugal. It’s splendid. Batalha Cathedral in Portugal is a place where the spirit can soar

The Siri face on my Apple Watch showed me several photos today from our 2015 visit to Batalha in Portugal. That sent me to Photos and a very pleasant spell looking at the whole collection.

Then I found my blog entry from that time, and read this.

As you exit the motorway into Batalha you can see the spires of the mainly Gothic monastery standing tall. Then you wind through the quiet streets for a few metres and there it is. The decorations and overall appearance are breathtaking. The buildings, with their arches and knobbly decorations and gargoyles, sit in the middle of a vast square.

Go inside though and the hugely tall vaulted ceilings and long views are truly awe inspiring. Tall stained glass windows are there. Decorations high and low on the tall pillars are there. Some bare stone walls are adorned only with a tiny cross.

These gorgeous buildings were created over about 150 years beginning in 1386, as thanks for the help of Mary in winning a battle.

This dazzling architectural ensemble was born out of a promise the King, João I, made in thanks for his victory at Aljubarrota, a battle fought on August 14, 1385, which assured him the throne and guaranteed independence for Portugal.

Batalha moved me. It seemed a place where the spirit could soar. The cathedral is powerful but beautiful. The outside is ornate, yet inside is modest and restrained, but with soaring spaces.

I took a fair few photos, most with the 'wrong' lens. Nevertheless, seeing these photos again fills me with joy.

Batalha cathedral in Portugal is at the centre of a vast square.

Batalha cathedral in Portugal - detail.

Batalha cathedral in Portugal - detail. of carvings above a door.

Batalha cathedral in Portugal - gargoyle. "

Batalha cathedral in Portugal - soaring columns.

Batalha cathedral in Portugal - stained glass window.