In the last few days our new house gained windows and doors. I've processed the photo from the builder to bring out the red of the new front door. 🏡
Turns out my flu and Covid jabs are a bit harder to get over than I expected. I need to remember that as we age it takes just that bit longer to recover from anything. Today my neck's really stiff — more so than yesterday.
Taking things easy …
This was a lightweight but enjoyable read, that was free when I 'bought' it. A Mid-Summer Murder (Shop 'Round the World Book 2) by Geri Krotow. 📚
Only Angel Warren, a retired Navy Pilot and owner of Shop ‘Round the World, can turn a summer day at the river into a murder investigation. But when her brother Bryce’s unicorn float snags on a corpse’s hand, suddenly Angel and Bryce are suspects.
Two days ago I had my flu and Covid jabs. I expected I'd feel a bit greebly for a day or two, and that was indeed the case. Today I feel pretty good, but my neck's really sore. Makes my morning neck stretches pretty uncomfortable, but it should ease by tomorrow I think.
NASA to launch rugby stadium-sized balloons from Wānaka Airport | RNZ News:
Two super pressure balloons, each the size of a rugby stadium, will put NASA's technology to the test …
The heavy-lift balloons would travel the South Hemisphere's mid-latitudes for 100 days or more.
The first would … take measurements more than 100 kilometres above the Earth's surface [to] help scientists predict changes in the ionosphere, which affected communication and navigation systems, NASA said.
The second flight would support several scientific missions, including measuring light and sound waves in the Earth's atmosphere.
The balloons, with a volume of 532,000 cubic metres, would float at an altitude of about 33km, well above the altitude of a commercial plane.
Abandoned: The Complete Detective Bailey Thrillers by Kate Watterson. 📚
When it comes to solving crimes, Detective Chris Bailey plays by his own rules.
You'd think the first book would be about the detective solving crimes, but it's mostly a tedious exploration of the romantic relationships between 3 characters who are pretty much incidental to the crime.
From about half way through Book One I skipped to the end. I'm unlikely to read the other 3 books.
Not exactly "news", but something everyone should know about. This will be going on in every single country in the world (that even allows women in government). Research finds rape threats against female MPs common | RNZ News:
A new research paper has found misogyny and racism are pervasive in the harassment of female politicians, their staff and their families. …
University of Otago researchers interviewed 11 MPs across the political divide in 2023, who reported being assaulted with weapons, threatened with rape and subjected to death threats.
One MP said she received "deeply, deeply vile" abuse, including a threat to cut her throat
Vaccination status: Flu and Covid shots received
Covid JN.1 variant:
The Comirnaty (JN.1) vaccine targets the JN.1 variant of COVID-19 and is expected to provide better protection against currently circulating strains of the virus.
Flu 2025 egg-based vaccine strains (PDF) (Influvac Tetra, Fluad Quad, Fluquadri, Afluria Quad), Flucelvax Quad:
- A/Victoria/4897/2022 (H1N1) pdm09-like virus
- A/Croatia/10136RV/2023 (H3N2)-like virus
- B/Austria/1359417/2021 -like virus
- B/Phuket/3073/2013 -like virus
Well, we just had a torrential downpour: 10 mm in 30 minutes, with a bit of thunder and a blip of a power cut. Someone nearby lost a shed roof and an empty 25,000 litre water tank to a mini tornado. 💦
I'm going out soon to get my flu and Covid jabs. I hope there isn't another surge of wild weather.
LOL — Mystery of the missing minutes: Why are TV shows shorter in New Zealand? | The Spinoff:
White Lotus S3E01 is one hour and one minute long on HBO Max. Here on Neon, it’s just 58 minutes. Severance also appears slightly severed: S2E01 is 50 minutes in the US, but a positively fleeting 48 minutes on AppleTV+ in Aotearoa.
… "The duration difference is due to the differing frame rates between the US and the rest of the world,” they wrote. “It’s an accepted industry practice to slightly speed up playback to match local standards, which can result in shorter runtimes without losing any content."
… HBO shows like The White Lotus, Succession and Game of Thrones are typically mastered at 23.98 frames per second – or fps – whereas the standard in New Zealand is 25 frames per second.
Another good read in the series by Kate Wells: A Body by the Henhouse (The Malvern Mysteries Book 3). 📚
When a hen party arrives for a weekend away, [farmer and glamping site owner Jude Gray] does her best to cater for their celebrations. … When one of the hens goes missing, it becomes clear there are more sinister forces at play, and someone is targeting her farm.
5 light links 07-Apr-2025
The world seems dark and grim. These 5 links are about bringing a little light. 💡
Turtle release in Northland stirs emotions - 'You can't ask for better' | RNZ News:
Five endangered [green] turtles have been returned to the wild at a Northland beach after being rescued near death and nursed back to health. …
According to DOC, another 15 were currently recovering at Kelly Tarlton's. Most had been rescued from Northland beaches during the past summer.
Horowhenua Star April 4 2025 (PDF):
It's a good day to be a lizard.
And an even better day to be part of the Horowhenua community. Native lizards are to get a purpose-built 4-hectare predator proof enclosure at the intersection of Arapaepae Road and Queen Street East. They’re getting the new pad as part of the Ō2NL expressway construction kicking off.
An Art Form That Makes Silent Voices Heard:
With gestures and mime rolled into one, this little-known art form, called Visual Vernacular (VV), is proudly used by the Deaf community for artistic expression. In VV, visual storytelling replaces formal signs, enabling people from both the Deaf and hearing communities to connect, understand each other and communicate without words.
Do watch the video — it's quite amazing. Daytime kiwi fight in Kerikeri garden surprises locals, reveals rare territorial clash:
In a remarkable scene captured in Northland, two kiwi birds engaged in a fight during daylight hours, offering a rare glimpse into the territorial behaviour of the elusive, nocturnal birds.
A population of rare native parrots in a Whangārei man's backyard continues to grow. Ethan Benney, who spent years predator-proofing some historic bush on his family's rural property at Glenbervie, first noticed an adult pair of kākāriki (green parrots) in the area early last year. About six months later, he discovered the duo were raising a clutch of chicks in a hollow tree.
Via: Northern Advocate, 07 April 2025 (PDF), Page 3.
Here’s the iPhone. Here’s the iPhone With Tariffs. - WSJ (via John Gruber):
This is what Apple pays for components inside its bestselling phone, and how [the] China tariffs could raise the bill
Heh, when I buy a new Apple product it ships direct from China. Presumably ditto for anyone else not in the US. I guess the tariffs will only affect Americans.
Our new house is coming along. The builder sent photos on a couple of days. 🏡
I had Apple Photos magically remove a worker. Look closely and you'll see where, but it's not a bad job.
This looks like so much fun. Excited! Season Three Trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Deb made delicious pikelets for lunch.
I really enjoy such timeline adjacencies. Puppets!
A nide of 5 pheasant chicks wandered around in the rain by my window this morning. Here are two of the well-grown chicks. 🐦
I very much enjoyed Coercive Power (The King & Midnight K-9 Mysteries Book 2) by D. L. Keur, an author whose other works I've liked too. 📚
Chief Deputy Mike Murphy is in trouble. The military is doing its best to press gang him back into uniform. He needs a lawyer, one really well-versed in military law. Meanwhile, somebody is trying to run a newcomer off their land in escalating incidents of violence.
Sigh. Things don't change. My emphasis:
A local woman’s phone call to Switzerland 20 years ago led to the Manawatū River Estuary becoming an internationally recognised wetland/bird sanctuary. …
“We printed leaflets and delivered them to households in Foxton Beach explaining what we were intending to do.”
This was followed by a public meeting where some young men heckled her, saying they wanted to continue running their 4-wheel drives through the dunes and the estuary.